Meryl Streep BAD

All three episodes feature special guest Michael Schulman, author of Her Again: Becoming Meryl Streep.

BAD: SOPHIE’S CHOICE

While there may be no such thing as the Greatest Living Actress, there is such thing as the Greatest Living Meryl Streep Aficionado, and that is Michael Schulman.

Michael is not only the author of HER AGAIN: BECOMING MERYL STREEP and a writer at the New Yorker, he's also a big Broad Appeal Fan. He likes us, he really likes us.

But does he like SOPHIE'S CHOICE? The revered Holocaust drama which won Streep her first Best Actress Oscar is mythologised and revered, but how many people do you know who’ve seen it... or enjoyed it? Brian's first viewing was influenced by the Pauline “Streep-Hater” Kael, and Seán is going in cold. Well, except for the "choice" part. Everyone knows about that.

Join us for our most controversial series yet, Meryl Streep: The Bad, the Badder, and the Baddest!!

BADDER: DOUBT

21st Century Meryl: lauded, applauded… and impossible to rein in. Gone is the bloom of youth, replaced by overglazed ham. In a wimple. With a Bronx accent.

John Patrick Shanley’s Pulitzer Prize-winning drama DOUBT set off sparks onstage, as a study in faith and ambiguity. Who should you trust: the progressive priest or the doctrinaire nun who accuses him of child abuse? In this stagey adaptation (filmed by the playwright himself, with plenty of wind and weather thrown in) the only uncertainty is whether the church will have a single pew left once Meryl is done chewing the scenery.

Brian and Seán are both good Catholic boys and special guest Michael Schulman studied at Sacred Streep Academy. It’s not hard to find a few cardinal virtues in the film’s dialogue or dramaturgy, as well as in the other actors’ performances. But when it comes to Holy Mother Meryl…. they have SUCH DOUBTS!!!!

BADDEST: SHE-DEVIL

I would like to talk about.... Mary. Fisher. In SHE-DEVIL, Streep gets her first attempt to do comedy. And like all first attempts, we have to accept that failing is sometimes inevitable.

SHE-DEVIL is not so much a comedy as it is the idea of a comedy. Who knew a story of MS stealing Roseanne Barr’s husband could be so flat? Meryl is bad, but it's not her fault. Seán is grinding his teeth from the moment it begins. Surely expert Merylologist Michael Schulman can't like this movie, can he? Can he??!??!!! This truly is Meryl at her BADDEST.

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Clips from EACH film ARE presented according to fair use policy. Podcast